NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 40, Issue 1, 1986

It may be concluded from the foregoing discussion that the sharîf-ship was of fundamental importance to Sultan Ismael’s princely office. His descent from the Prophet was an important factor in his political-religious legitimation. As regards his subjects’ sharîf -ship, Sultan Ismael fulfilled his duty as an Islamic ruler, treating the shurafâ’ with respect and favoring them as long as he was certain of their loyal support, their legitimation of his regime with their prestige and influence. Sultan Ismael showed himself to be a Realpolitiker in his relationship with the shurafâ’ when he registered them and concentrated their leaders in his capitals or his armies, measures which enabled him to keep them under control as much as possible. The descendant of the Prophet who did not observe the Sultan’s rules of play was subject to the same fate as any random subject who had fallen from grace with his prince.

This article, finished by the end of July 1985, is a comparative analysis of the responses to the Lima-text, published by or prepared for the Churches in the Netherlands. It discusses the responses from Roman Catholic side, the answers given by the Mennonite and the Remonstrant Brotherhood and study reports prepared for several Protestant Churches (Reformed, Lutheran). Every response starts from its own tradition, and takes it as a standard for the evaluation of ‘Lima’. But at least in some responses there is openness to the possibility of being enriched by ‘Lima’. And, again in some responses or study reports, the question comes up, partly answered affirmatively, whether the own tradition could, as a contribution, fit into the ‘Lima’ picture.

In the light of Hare’s argument in his latest book on Moral Thinking we might deal with two fundamental questions concerning normative reasoning: (1) What precisely is the content of a utilitarian criterion of moral rightness, i.e. what does it mean to say of an action that it results in an ‘equal amount of happiness’ or in ‘more happiness’ than another action? (2) How should a utilitarian criterion be used in a process of deliberation, i.e. in choosing between alternative courses of action, what procedure should we follow to reach a decision by means of a utilitarian criterion of moral rightness?

Hare’s answers to these questions are critically discussed, including his views on the satisfaction of preferences and the indirect use of the criterion as well as his requirement of prudence and his claim that it is not a philosophical question when to engage in critical thinking.

Attention is drawn to the question: Is dogmatics science or mere ideology? The answer depends upon our concepts of dogmatics and science. To clarify this we have to know what the object of theological research really is. If it is the Bible only, dogmatics is reduced to literature. After discussing proposals of Hodge, Barth, Pannenberg, Kaufman and Hick, it is concluded that this object is God in relation to human beings and to (the history of) the universe in connection with the question of the meaning of life. Furthermore the author puts forwards a plea for logic in the description of the object of research.

The next question concerns the status of dogmatic propositions: Are they realistic descriptions or idealistic constructions without ontological claims. The author argues for theological relationalism, i.e. an attempt for a reconstruction of the relations between God and the world by means of relations between elements of familiar models. This reconstruction is a mapping of the unknown object onto more familiar models to provide talk of God.

After discussing problems of induction and phenomenology in theology the relevance of deduction in theological theory is shown.

In the philosophy of science the classical criterion for scientific character (i.e. testibility), is replaced by the concept of falsifiability and the puzzle-solving power of the paradigm. The theological paradigm is personal in contrast with the causal paradigm of natural science. These are different conceptual frames, but it is not reasonable to prefer the first as the only possible (compare history). The theological paradigm attempts to integrate the available paradigms of other sciences and does accept falsifiability for its propositions if they imply factual statements.

The recently published Papyrus Bodmer 29 contains a very curious, if not bizarre, Christian hexametric poem by a certain Dorotheüs, son of Quintus the poet, probably Quintus Smyrnaeus, the author of the Posthomerica. In this poem of 343 lines, probably written about 300 A.D., Dorotheus describes a visionary experience in which he enters heaven and is entrusted with the task of gatekeeper in God’ palace. Since he fulfils this task badly, he is severely punished by being whipped, and God is inclined to dismiss him. But at the intercession of Christ and Gabriel he is allowed to resume his function. He is baptized and receives a new name, Andreas. His request to become an apostle is declined. In this article the often obscure Greek text is translated with explanatory notes.

This article deals with the theological faculty of the State University at Groningen during the Nazi period, both before the Second World War and during the occupation time. It focusses particularly on reactions of students and professors to the struggle of the Confessing Church in Germany. During the occupation period two serious problems confronted the students: the German demands to dismiss Jewish members from their organisations (1941) and to sign a declaration of loyalty to the occupying authorities (1943). Only three students complied with this order.

Because of the brutal regime of the Reichskommissar’s representative in the Province of Groningen, Hermann Coming, a fanatic Nazi anti-Semite, who was strivung for a nazification of the university, ordinary teaching and objective research were made difficult. Any Nazi sympathy did not exist in the theological faculty. Special attention is paid to the famous phenomenologist G. van der Leeuw and the dogmatic theologian Th. L. Haitjema. Finally some information is given about the local Netherlands Reformed Church during the period.

In his philosophy of religion the Japanese philosopher Nishitani (b. 1900) argues the idea that Western civilisation is driven inevitably to nihilism both by the results of its science and by a greed inducing liberalist economy. Nihilism is the inevitable consequence of the feeling that things no longer make sense.

While holding to supposed entities (God, Jesus, self or soul, eternity), Christianity is not able to withstand the attack of nihilism, nor does the anthropocentricity of the (Western) Enlightenment provide a satisfying answer. According to Nishitani one has simply to accept the (naturalistic) results of science and go through the experience of meaninglessness in order to overcome nihilism via the realization of ‘nothingness’ achieved in the experience of śūnyatā.

In this article Nishitani’s ideas are introduced and described (I and II). His critique of Christianity is expounded and discussed. It is shown how Christianity can learn from his critique of Western and Christian ideas. The question is posed as to whether it is possible for him to do without the idea of Transcendence (III). The final question dealt with is whether Christianity can be viewed as a genuine alternative for nihilism and Zen. The main argument is that Nishitani’s idea of a ‘field of force’ presupposes a Power who sustains it (IV).

During the temptation in the desert Jesus shows He is free from the necessity to gather wealth, from the lust for power and from the inclination to act like God. This is the freedom Jesus bestows on the church.

When Christians act in this freedom the interest of the other person (seen as an irreplaceable individual created by God) is paramount. Ellul pleads for realism: idealism which blurs reality is a danger for every Christian who wants to act. Christians can support reality because they believe that Jesus Christ is Lord even over the darkest reality.

Christians may take part in revolutionary movements, but as soon as these movements make victims they must take sides with the latter. In a theology of liberation Christians should not try to tell the oppressed what to do, but they ought to help them to find their own way.

The usual rendering of Luke 4,17a, ‘when he had opened the book’ in English versions, since Tyndale and the King James version, is quite remarkable, as it was based on texts which read ‘when he had unrolled the book’. Both verbs, however, are present in textual tradition. The reading ‘opened’ is predominant in early Egyptian (Alexandrian) and Syriac witnesses, whereas the verb ‘unrolled’ occurs in some early Alexandrian texts, in the Caesarean textual tradition and in the Byzantine recension. The purpose of this contribution was not to solve this difficult textual problem, although the author is convinced that internal and linguistic arguments (§6) seem to favour the reading ‘opened’ (with N²⁵, against N²⁶ and GNT³). The main issue of this contribution was to establish the reading of the Diatessaron. The apparatus of GNT³ included the Diatessaron (or at least the Arabic version of it) among the witnesses for the reading ‘unrolled’. A brief examination of the Arabic Diatessaron and of the western Diatessaron witnesses resulted in the conclusion that the early Syriac Diatessaron and (probably also) the early Latin Diatessaron supported the reading ‘opened’.

Religious representations and customs in which death has a central place have always been of paramount import for the scientific study of religion. In this paper various theories on the origin of religion are discussed briefly, especially with respect to death. Moreover, attention is paid to Hertz’s study of secondary burial (1907) and Van Gennep’s concept of tripartite structure of rites of passage (1909). Their ideas are applied to the funeral rites in ancient India, as reconstructed by Caland (1896) according to the ritual Sanscrit texts. In this context burial and cremation are opposed to each other. In contradiction to the interment of the corpse, cremation rites presuppose a special socially recognized relationship between the deceased and the mourners, in which attribution of status takes place. Cremation rites are connected with special belief concepts, viz. with sacrifice and with transition. The corpse is sacrificed in the sacrificial fire and by means of this the deceased is purified. During the period of transition the departed is prepared for incorporation in the world of the Ancestors. Against the clear concepts connected with the Indian cremation rites, the modem western belief concepts with respect to cremation are often vague.

In TJ two images of women are presented that are diametrically opposed. On the one hand Job’s first wife is presented, to be true, as a loyal and loving wife and mother, but apart from that as a creature that is easily led astray, does not have any spiritual insight and is characterized by a continuous lack of awareness of where God and Satan are at work. On the other hand there are Job’s daughters (from his second wife, Dinah, Jacob’s daughter), who play such a leading role in the final chapters as to reduce Job and his sons to the status of supernumerary actors. They are spiritually highly gifted, have insight into heavenly reality, speak the languages of the angels, and create a real reversal of roles in the story. The chapters on the daughters derive from another source than that on Job’s wife, and probably had their origin in an ecstatic-mystical Jewish group in which women played a leading role.

The article summarizes some results of a study project on the ‘witness’-theme. The main developments in the witness theology and shifts of meaning of ‘witness’ and derivatives, in the documents of the World Council of Churches, the Vatican, and the Joint Working Group in the period 1948-1985, are indicated. For instance, in recent documents (especially of the JWG) ‘witness’ is no longer a strict missiological category, but it also includes purely ecumenical activities. Finally, the writer tries to explain the success of the concept, especially in recent documents: perhaps more than ‘evangelization’ or ‘mission’ the concept evokes modesty from the Christian witness, who can also talk (and live) out of experience.